Abstract
The day-by-day increase in digital loads draws attention towards the need for an efficient and compatible distribution network. An LVDC distribution network has the capability to fulfill such digital load demands. However, the major challenge of an LVDC distribution network is its vulnerability during a fault. The need for a high-speed fault detection method is inevitable before it can be widely adopted. This paper proposes a new fault detection method which extracts the features of the current during a fault. The proposed fault detection method uses the merits of overcurrent, the first and second derivative of current, and signal processing techniques. Three different features are extracted from a time domain current signal through a sliding window. The extracted features are based upon the root squared zero, second, and fourth order moments. The features are then set with individual thresholds to discriminate low-, high-, and very high-resistance faults. Furthermore, a fault is located through the superimposed power flow. Moreover, this study proposes a new method based on the vector sum of positive and negative pole currents to identify the faulty pole. The proposed scheme is verified by using a modified IEEE 13 node distribution network, which is implemented in Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed fault detection and identification method. The simulation results also confirm that a fault having a resistance of 1 m Ω is detected and interrupted within 250 μ s for the test system used in this study.
Highlights
An LVDC distribution network has several advantages over a traditional AC distribution network.Apart from its easy integration with distributed generation such as renewable energy sources, an LVDC distribution network can supply more power to the consumers than its AC counterpart with the same cable size [1,2,3]
LVDC distribution networks are suggested to supply the power to the end-users
The simulation results confirm that the proposed fault detection method is helpful to discriminate between low, high- and very high-resistance faults
Summary
An LVDC distribution network has several advantages over a traditional AC distribution network. Apart from its easy integration with distributed generation such as renewable energy sources, an LVDC distribution network can supply more power to the consumers than its AC counterpart with the same cable size [1,2,3]. The use of a DC distribution network to supply sensitive electronic loads will have lower losses compared with a conventional AC un-interruptible power supply solution due to fewer power conversion steps. Since the DC loads are supplied with a DC network, the rectifiers inside the loads can be removed and the losses can be lowered [3,4]. Several other studies have shown that a DC distribution network is more efficient than a traditional AC distribution network. In Reference [5], it has been determined that a DC network is better than AC network in the following ways:
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